Angie Watts
Angie Watts was the alcoholic landlady of The Queen Victoria pub and the wife of landlord Den Watts. Her relationship with Den was often a rocky one. Den had a mistress, despite being married to Angie, and he would often favour her over Angie. Angie quickly became fed up of Den's two-timing ways and desperately tried to get her own back on him by having flings with other Albert Square residents, although she was never able to keep them. On Christmas Day 1986, Den served Angie divorce papers. She had been lying to him about her health for several months and claimed she was dying, desperate to try and keep him with her. She then turned to alcohol to cope following her and Den's break-up, although by the end of 1987, her and Den ended up becoming business partners once again. By New Year's Eve 1987, Angie began suffering severe pains in her kidneys. She had gone into kidney failure following months of alcohol abuse and required dialysis. She headed over to Spain for a holiday after being discharged from hospital, where she fell in love with one of her friends, Sonny. She then went behind Den's back and ran away with Sonny, starting a new life with him. In 2002, Angie died following cirrhosis of the liver. Her body was returned to Walford and buried in the local cemetery. Biography Backstory Angie was born in January 1950. She and Den Watts married in February 1968 and they tried for a child of their own, but were unable to do so. They instead decided to adopt Sharon, and raised her as their own daughter. 1985-1986: Marriage with Den Watts Angie's relationship with Den was not smooth-running. She knew her husband was a cheat and had a mistress, Jan Hammond, who he would frequently visit and go on holiday with. She was devastated when he went away on holiday with her, and tried to get back at him by having an affair with Tony Carpenter. However, their affair was only short-lived. Angie then turned to Lofty Holloway and tried to make him have a meal with her to make Den jealous, but when Lofty bailed on her during the meal, fearful of how Den would react, she broke down, feeling unwanted. have dinner together on the Orient Express.]]In 1986, Jan arrived at The Queen Victoria and Angie was horrified by her unexpected appearance. She turned to alcohol to try and deal with the situation, before attempting suicide, hoping that Den would find her. Den did, and when she was discharged from hospital, she realised that she could have died if he had not found her. Angie was desperate to stop Den from leaving her, and when he decided that their relationship had ran its course, she lied to him and told him she was dying. Den was horrified by Angie's confession, and promised to stay with her until she died. However, when the pair went to Venice for a holiday, Angie admitted to a waiter she had lied about her health status, unaware that Den had overheard her. He got his revenge by serving her divorce papers on Christmas Day, leaving Angie crushed. 1987-1988: Life after The Vic, returning to Den and abusing alcohol Following Den's nasty Christmas present, Angie and her adopted daughter, Sharon Watts, moved out of The Vic and in with Angie's best friend, Kathy Beale. They then moved into a local B&B and shortly afterwards, Angie struck up a working relationship with former brewery manager, James Willmott-Brown. Willmott-Brown decided to open a bar, The Dagmar, to compete with The Vic. He hired Angie to work for him and allowed her to live in the upstairs flat. However, Angie constantly got drunk and just before The Dagmar opened, she tried to kiss Willmott-Brown. Willmott-Brown was not keen on keeping Angie following her drunken pass at him, but he soon agreed to forget what had happened and the pair moved on. Meanwhile, Den allowed his mistress, Jan, to move in with him at The Vic, but their relationship quickly broke down and she left him by the summer of 1987. The Vic's takings plummeted following Angie's departure, while The Dagmar's takings rose. But by December 1987, Angie had had enough of The Dagmar and decided to quit. Her and Willmott-Brown's relationship began to go downhill when he fired Mary Smith, who she had hired, before telling her that she was merely a barmaid in his bar. She had also been hounded by a yuppie, Gerry Fairweather, who wound her up to the point where she knocked him out and returned to The Vic, striking up a new professional relationship with Den. Throughout the entire divorce process with Den, Angie used alcohol to keep her going. She lied to Sharon and her other friends and told them she had gone on the wagon and stopped drinking, to cover up the reality that she was not coping. In May 1987, Angie and Den's divorce was finalised. The pair professed they were pleased about the divorce, but it was obvious that was not the case for either of them. As a result, Sharon decided to intervene and set her parents up on a series of dates, hoping they would realise they were still in love and would reunite, although this was not originally the case as the pair would frequently quarrel. On New Year's Eve and a few days after going missing following the quitting of her job, Angie returned to the Square in a considerable amount of pain. She visited Ethel Skinner and demanded she told no one about her pain. A few days later, whilst working in The Vic, Angie collapsed upstairs in agony. She was rushed to hospital and told she had gone into kidney failure. She required dialysis. Whilst in hospital, Angie decided that it would be best for both her and Den if they left Walford and ran a new pub elsewhere. Den agreed to Angie's proposition. 1988: A holiday to remember After being discharged from hospital, Angie decided to take a holiday to Spain to visit her and Den's friends, Sonny and Rhi. Whilst out there, she began an affair with Sonny. She returned to Albert Square weeks later and began acting strangely around Den. She pretended to be ill on one occasion when she was meant to be visiting a pub with Den, and then secretly phoned Sonny to arrange a date to flee with him. A few weeks later, Angie packed her bags. Frank Butcher and Pat Wicks, friends of Angie, tried informing Den of Angie's intentions to leave, but Den was not interested. Angie was unaware that Den had heard one of her secret conversations on the phone with Sonny, and knew she was planning to runaway all along. He hired himself a solicitor and ensured she could not take any money from him. Angie said her goodbyes to the pair and left with Sonny to start a new life. 2002: Death and legacy In April 2002, news reached Walford of Angie's demise. She began abusing alcohol again in her later years and died from cirrhosis of the liver. Her body was returned to Walford and buried in the local cemetery next to Den, which she had requested. Prior to her death, Angie had asked Sharon to lie to her friends and tell them that she had actually died from a heart attack. Sharon's new club is renamed Angie's Den in honour of her parents. Den visited Angie's grave after his return to Walford, and was noticed by Dot Branning, who told him not to move the flowers out of respect. Two years later, after Den's death at the hands of Chrissie, he was buried in his original grave next to Angie. Other information *In 1991, it was revealed that Angie was living in Miami and had remarried. Background information *Angie was one of the original set of twenty-three characters in EastEnders and appeared in the first episode. *Originally, Angie was supposed to be played by actress Jean Fennell. However, during rehearsals, show creators Tony Holland and Julia Smith felt that Fennell was wrong for the part. They recast Fennell with Anita Dobson, and during auditions it was noted that Dobson was "exactly the right age" to play Angie. *Angie was initially going to be called Pearl. *When Dobson announced her departure from the show in 1988, the news was reported on the BBC Six O'Clock News. This was because of how popular Angie was at the time. First and last lines "Oh, nice of you to drop in, Ethel." (First line) --- "Bye Den." (Final line) See also *Full list of appearances Category:EastEnders characters Category:Original characters Category:1985 debuts Category:1988 departures Category:The Queen Victoria owners Category:The Dagmar residents Category:2002 deaths Category:The Dagmar staff Category:Watts family Category:1968 marriages Category:1950 births Category:The Queen Victoria residents